This recipe was created in collaboration with Club House for Chefs and Hawksworth Young Chef Scholarship by: Andrew Lecky, Chef of Langdon Hall in Cambridge, ON.
For the Roasted Garden Fennel and Tomato Soup: Pre-heat oven to 400-degrees F. In a large bowl, toss halved heirloom tomatoes and quartered bulbs of fennel in 2 tablespoon of grapeseed oil, salt and pepper and place them single layer on a parchment lined baking sheet. Roast for 20 minutes. In a heavy bottomed pot over medium heat - sweat down shallots and garlic in the remaining 2 tablespoon of grapeseed oil until translucent. Do not get any colour on your shallots or garlic. Add in roasted tomatoes and fennel to pot and increase heat to medium-high. In a spice grinder (or mortar and pestle) – grind Club House Crushed Red Pepper into a powder and use to season the roasted vegetables. Cook for two minutes. Deglaze pan with dry white wine. Add tomato water, bay leaves, parsley stem, basil stem, fennel seed, whole black peppercorns and cream. Allow soup to simmer for 20-30 minutes. Remove soup from heat and blend in a high-powered blender. While blending the soup, adjust seasoning with salt, black pepper and balance acidity with sugar as needed. To make for a velvety textured soup, add in olive oil and butter at the end of the blending. Pass through a fine chinois.
For Serving: Garnish the bottom of your bowl in a circle with baby heirloom cherry tomatoes and fresh herbs and flowers such as coriander, basil, fennel and dill. Place soup in the centre of the garnish.
